"Yeah. That's pretty much it."
Marcy lifted a brow. "So, he was fooling around with the maid? Kinda cliche, don't you think?" She nudged him knowingly with her elbow.
His eyes darted around the room as he shook his head. Then his gaze settled on her. "I used to think so. But now I think it's kinda hot."
Marcy averted her eyes and tried to hide her grin. She couldn't deny that she thought it was kinda hot, too. "So, why'd they take off, anyway? Did something happen?"
Ramon's expression went cold. "Did Victor tell you to ask me that?"
She widened her eyes. "No."
He scanned her face for a moment like he was trying to determine if she was lying. Then he took a deep breath. "Yeah, okay."
"Did you know Henry and the maid were… uh…" She paused. "Intimate?"
"Yeah, I always assumed. Nothing ever happened around me but I know how Henry is."
"But you lived in the same house, right? You never walked in on anything?"
"Honestly, I didn't care enough to notice. Hell, they're adults. Let 'em do what they wanna do, you know?" He shrugged. "Besides, I think they spent most of their time together in the trailer out back."
"Trailer out back?"
"Yeah," he said. "There's a double-wide trailer out there. Henry bought it a few years ago for the guys to use as a break room during the day. At night, I guess it was his and Elsa's love nest." He grunted like he was about to gag.
"Am I supposed to be cleaning that, too?"
"Only if you want to, I suppose. Maybe just once a week to vacuum and mop or whatever. Those guys can be a bunch of damn pigs sometimes. That's why I make 'em clean up their own mess. Have you not gone out there yet?"
"No offense, but…" Her nose wrinkled. "There's a smell. I caught a whiff of it from the back deck. I probably need to go out there and look around, huh?"
"Don't go out there unless I'm with you." His eyes fixed on hers.
"Why? Is it dangerous?"
"Just don't do it."
"Uh… okay." She didn't know him well enough to interpret his facial expressions, but he seemed pretty serious. "Do the guys ever come here, to the house?"
"Sometimes, but only for emergencies. I told 'em all to keep out now that I got all these people stayin' with me. Makes things easier." Ramon suddenly gasped, giving his alarm clock a glance. "Shit! It's eleven o'clock already?"
"Hmm?" Marcy looked at the clock.
Ramon growled and let his head fall to the pillow. "I'm so fuckin' tired of wakin' up at three-thirty."
"Huh? Three-thirty?"
"Yeah." He sighed. "Guess I'll have to go in late tomorrow. No way I can function on three hours sleep. Four, maybe. But not three."
Marcy squinted at him. "I think your math's wrong. If you go to sleep now, you'll get four and a half hours."
He sat up, chuckling, then pulled another condom out from under his pillow. "Not with you in my bed." He reached out and put his hand behind her head, pulling her forward.
She happily melted into his arms, his kiss awakening her body once again.
Chapter 7
Some time well after midnight, Marcy dozed off into a blissful slumber in Ramon's bed.
At three-thirty, as she lay on her side with her back to him, she jolted awake at the blaring alarm clock he had forgotten to turn off.
She kept her eyes shut, chuckling, when she heard him mutter a string of expletives, then smack the clock until the buzzer stopped.
"Fuckin' three-thirty…" Ramon muttered.
Laughing inside, she lay peacefully, waiting for sleep to overtake her once again, when she felt his arm curve around her waist. Then she felt his warm chest against her back.
Does he want me to wake up? she wondered. But almost instantly she heard his slow, rhythmic breathing and knew he had fallen asleep.
She eased her body against his and closed her eyes.
The next time she awoke, it was to the sound of dresser drawers opening and shutting. She rolled over, blinking to clear her eyes, then rubbing them. She saw a bare-chested Ramon pulling on a pair of jeans.
Clearing her throat,